Viruses

News about Viruses, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jan. 13, 2015

Nationwide outbreak of mysterious respiratory virus, known as acute flaccid myelitis, which has affected 103 children in 34 states and causes poliolike paralysis has sent researchers scrambling to explain its cause; enterovirus 68 has become leading suspect, but some scientists question diagnosis. MORE

Dec. 24, 2014

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies previously unknown virus, spread by ticks and mosquitoes, that led to death of Kansas farmer; microbe is named Bourbon virus, for county where patient lived. MORE

Dec. 2, 2014

Scientists at Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass, are using rapid track sequencing offered by center's genetic analysis factory in their urgent quest to better understand Ebola and Lassa diseases ravaging Africa; machines at center allow researchers to track viruses' activity and mutations in real time. MORE

Nov. 10, 2014

By analyzing samples from each of the five New York City boroughs, Jane M. Carlton hopes to detect viruses before an outbreak. MORE

Oct. 29, 2014

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than 50 children in 23 states have had mysterious episodes of paralysis to their arms or legs; cause is not known, although some doctors suspect the cases may be linked to infection with enterovirus 68, respiratory virus that has sickened thousands of children. MORE

Oct. 28, 2014

Researchers say that viruses like Ebola have been acting as parasites toward living cells since first cells arose on earth nearly four billion years ago; some even claim that viruses actually predate their hosts, and that viruses are creative agent that invented cells as means of making new viral particles. MORE

Oct. 14, 2014

Dr Ian Lipkin study in journal mBio presents survey of viruses and bacteria in New York City’s rat population, first attempt to use DNA to catalog pathogens in any animal species in the city; researchers report that rats carry significant number of pathogens that can affect human health. MORE

Oct. 7, 2014

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms that New Jersey boy Eli Waller was infected with enterovirus 68, which resulted in his death; first reported fatality definitively caused by the virus has stirred fears among parents, despite the reassurances of public health and education officials; anxiety, in part, stems from fact that symptoms associated with the virus resemble those of a common cold. MORE

Oct. 2, 2014

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announces that at least four people carrying the enterovirus 68 virus have died, but is is unclear to what extent the virus contributed to their deaths; enterovirus 68 has sickened people in more than 40 states. MORE

Oct. 1, 2014

Federal health officials are asking nation’s physicians to report all cases of children with limb weakness to determine whether there is a link to enterovirus 68, which is sickening thousands. MORE

Sep. 26, 2014

Outbreak of respiratory illness first observed in the Midwest has spread to 38 states, sending children to hospitals and baffling scientists trying to understand its virulent resurgence. MORE

Aug. 19, 2014

Dr Julie E Ledgerwood study in journal The Lancet reports that vaccine in its first human trials may offer protection against the chikungunya virus, mosquito-borne infection that causes fever and severe joint pain. MORE

Jul. 18, 2014

First domestically acquired cases of tropical disease Chikungunya fever are found in two Florida residents; doctors have been warning that illness that causes severe joint point would reach United States. MORE

Jul. 15, 2014

Dr Lawrence K Altman The Doctor's World column observes that discovery of six glass vials of smallpox virus in storage room of National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md, has intensified debate over what to do with stockpiles of harmful microbes; some experts are calling for destruction of all such microbes, while others wish to store and study them. MORE

Jul. 5, 2014

Porcine epidemic diarrhea, deadly virus known as PEDv, is wreaking havoc on pork industry, with an estimated 100,000 piglets and young hogs killed since virus first showed up in Iowa in May 2013; fatality numbers are so staggering that environmentalists have grown worried about effects of state laws requiring burial of so many carcasses, and what that will do to groundwater. MORE

May. 22, 2014

Research study in Science Translational Medicine finds that the placenta, once thought sterile, actually harbors world of bacteria that may influence course of pregnancy and help shape an infant's health and the bacterial makeup of its gut; research is part of a broader scientific effort to explore the microbiome, the trillions of microbes--bacteria, viruses and fungi--that colonize the human body. MORE

Mar. 25, 2014

International health agencies warn that the first outbreak of Ebola fever in West African nation of Guinea has killed at least 59 people and may be spreading into nearby countries. MORE

Mar. 4, 2014

Scientists have revealed that unusual repeating DNA sequence occurring next to gene in common bacterium are part of sophisticated immune system used to fight viruses; molecular system, known as Crispr, may provide scientists with power to edit genome and make precise changes to DNA of humans, essentially rewriting code of life. MORE

Mar. 4, 2014

Team of researchers has retrieved 30,000-year-old virus out of Siberian permafrost that remains capable of infecting amoebas; though virus is not threat to humans, its viability raises possibility that disease-causing viruses may also be lurking in permafrost; team describes its findings in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. MORE

Feb. 16, 2014

Nicholas Bakalar travel article on why norovirus crops up on cruise ships; looks at how virus spreads, how often widespread illness occurs and recommendations for prevention. MORE

Jan. 28, 2014

The Week column; study in journal mBio speculates that honeybee die-offs may be due in part to rapidly mutating virus that has jumped from tobacco plants to soy plants to bees; other significant developments in science highlighted. MORE

Jan. 22, 2014

Research published in academic journal mBio finds that mysterious mass die-offs of honeybees, known as colony collapse disorder, may be linked to rapidly mutating virus that jumped to bees from tobacco and soy plants; Agriculture Department says that honeybees are crucial to production of crops that make up quarter of Americans’ diet, and pollination adds about $15 billion to crops' value each year. MORE

Dec. 24, 2013

Study in The Journal of Virology reports that scientists studying microbes living in hot springs have discovered way to preserve viruses by coating them with silica; discovery could someday change how vaccines are delivered in poor countries. MORE

Dec. 23, 2013

High death toll of marine mammals from resurgence of the morbillivirus has alarmed marine scientists, who are not sure why bottlenose dolphins have succumbed to disease; nearly 1,000 dolphins have died so far in 2013, and deaths raise new questions about the health of the ocean on the Eastern Seaboard. MORE

Nov. 12, 2013

Saudi Arabia's Health Ministry announces that the virus that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, an often-lethal lung disease related to SARS, has been found in a pet camel belonging to a recent human victim; discovery adds credence to the prevailing theory that the virus originates in bats but usually reaches humans through camels. MORE

Oct. 5, 2013

Saudi Arabia confirms six new infections from potentially fatal MERS virus, raising the total number of cases worldwide to 136. MORE

Sep. 12, 2013

Evidence is mounting that camels are the most likely intermediary in the transmission from bats to humans of virus that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. MORE

Sep. 9, 2013

Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases say that a combination of well-known antiviral drugs ribavirin and interferon protects monkeys against MERS and could potentially be used to save humans from the lethal disease; study on the use of the drugs in monkeys will be published in journal Nature Medicine. MORE

Aug. 28, 2013

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says measelslike virus that suppresses immune system could be to blame for extraordinary number of bottlenose dolphins that died after becoming stranded along East Coast. MORE

Aug. 6, 2013

Science Q&A on whether it is possible to develop immunity to common cold as one ages. MORE

Aug. 5, 2013

Pig farmers are battling to contain porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, condition that has spread rapidly throughout summer, killing thousands of piglets in 16 states; virus is only deadly to young pigs and is not dangerous to humans, but researchers have not yet been able to determine its origin or root cause. MORE

Jul. 18, 2013

World Health Organization says slow spread of MERS virus that has killed 45 people, mostly in the Middle East, does not amount to a global health emergency, and no travel restrictions will be issued now. MORE

Jul. 14, 2013

Lisa Sanders Diagnosis column describes mentally disabled woman who suffered from fever and flu-like symptoms that were ultimately diagnosed as a form of mononucleosis caused by the Epstein-Barr virus. MORE

Jul. 2, 2013

Experts are testing bats and other animals in Saudi Arabia as they try to trace emergence of MERS, or Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome, a deadly coronavirus related to SARS that is spreading to humans in the Middle East; several questions remain unanswered about virus, including whether it could erupt into larger outbreak as SARS did. MORE

Jun. 21, 2013

National Park Service officials say that 150 employees and 50 guests at Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks have contracted norovirus, highly contagious gastrointestinal illness; issue warning to visitors to two parks to wash their hands to avoid virus. MORE

Jun. 20, 2013

Detailed investigation of MERS viral illness, first detected in Saudi Arabia in 2012, reveals chilling ease with which virus can spread to ill patients in hospital; international team found that a person can get sick 5.2 days after being exposed to virus, which has infected 64 people in 38 countries; report is published in New England Journal of Medicine. MORE

May. 28, 2013

News analysis; new viruses are emerging faster than ever before, but improved surveillance means they are also being caught sooner, giving scientists time to develop effective countermeasures; increased transparency and better technologies such as rapid gene sequencing mean that catastrophic epidemics are less likely than in past, despite emergence of more virulent strains of influenza and other viruses. MORE

May. 14, 2013

France confirms second case of a new coronavirus belonging to the same family as SARS, saying man who shared a hospital room with the first victim had been infected; case is being watched closely by World Health Organization. MORE

May. 11, 2013

French officials are examining three people who came into contact with a man hospitalized with new respiratory coronavirus related to SARS, to see if they have also contracted the disease. MORE

May. 10, 2013

Op-Ed article by author David Quammen examines threats of global pandemic, saying latest aggressive pathogens in China and Saudi Arabia may or may not carve deadly path across globe, but sooner or later, one will. MORE

Mar. 29, 2013

Hong Kong is gripped by worries over virus, known as coronavirus, that has spread through Middle East, infecting 17 people and killing 11; Hong Kong government is taking preventive measures, reflecting continued preoccupation with public health since nearly 1,800 people became ill with severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in 2003. MORE

Oct. 23, 2012

Thomas R Unnasch study in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene finds that Eastern equine encephalomyelitis, rare mosquito-borne virus found along the Eastern Seaboard that kills some horses and humans, likely survives winters inside snakes. MORE

Sep. 23, 2012

Op-Ed article by author David Quammen observes that outbreaks of deadly viruses, such as the cases of hantavirus in Yosemite National Park, often capture the imagination because they raise the question of whether they represent the beginning of the next big epidemic. MORE

Sep. 4, 2012

Dr Scott M Folk and Dr Laura K McMullan study in the New England Journal of Medicine reports on the Heartland virus, aggressive phlebovirus identified in two Missouri men who were bitten by ticks; virus may be an alarming addition to the list of tick-borne dangers that includes Lyme disease, babesiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and ehrlichiosis. MORE

Jul. 24, 2012

Science Q&A on why some viruses, like polio, did not mutate to become immune to vaccines. MORE

Jul. 15, 2012

News analysis; United States Agency for International Development-financed project called Predict has enlisted teams of veterinarians and conservation biologists to determine ways in which future viral epidemics can be more quickly identified and treated; the project is based on a developing model of infectious disease that shows that most epidemics are a result of human interaction with animals and the environment. MORE

Mar. 20, 2012

Researchers have long known that cancer patients can suffer a brief remission when they catch a viral infection, but the road to developing a specific anti-cancer virus has been long and troubled; developments in the past decade have brought oncolytic viruses within reach, as scientists prepare to implement them as a standard part of cancer therapy. MORE

Mar. 20, 2012

Recent studies suggest that a cure for the deadly Ebola and Marburg viruses may one day be possible; current strategies for battling the viruses are limited to isolating patients and containing transmission. MORE

Mar. 6, 2012

Panel of scientists brought together by the World Health Organization have recommended in favor of publishing the results of a pair of controversial experiments in which the H5N1 bird flu virus was transformed into mutant forms that spread among mammals; there is no word on when those papers, withheld since 2011 by journals Science and Nature, will appear, but fear among some scientists is that information might make it possible for others, including curious amateurs, to recreate the mutant virus along with an accidental release. MORE

Under pressure from ultra-Orthodox leaders, New York City is seeking to waive a requirement that parents sign a consent form before a Jewish ritual that has been linked to herpes infections in infants.